| CNN | - |
Las
Vegas (CNN) -- A shooting and a fiery crash left three people dead in
the neon heart of the Las Vegas Strip on Thursday, and police scrambled
to find out who triggered the carnage.
Rapper among dead after shooting, fiery crash on Las Vegas Strip
updated 10:29 PM EST, Thu February 21, 2013
Three dead after shooting in Las Vegas
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Kenneth Cherry Jr., a rapper known as Kenny Clutch, was killed, his lawyer says
- Gunfire and a fiery crash kill 3 in the heart of Las Vegas Strip
- Casino visitor describes seeing "fireball" from Caesars Palace
- Police are looking for a black Range Rover Sport with large black rims
The bloodshed closed the
Strip for about a block and a half around some of its biggest draws,
leaving tourists gaping at a wrecked Maserati, a burned-out taxi and
four other vehicles.
"First time in Vegas, and
then, like, the whole thing, what you know from movies only -- I was
shocked," Christine Gerstenberger, who was visiting the desert gambling
mecca from Germany, said Thursday afternoon. She and her brothers
debated going back to the hotel "because I'm totally scared," but "We're
too curious," she said.
One of those killed was
Kenneth Cherry Jr. -- a rapper also known as Kenny Clutch -- his
attorney Vicki Greco said. According to his Facebook page, Cherry is
from Oakland, California, and lived in Las Vegas.
Shooting on the Las Vegas strip
Four of the Nevada city's
biggest casinos -- Caesars Palace, the Bellagio, Bally's and the
Flamingo -- are nearby, and police collected surveillance-camera video
from them to help the probe.
It started around 4:20
a.m. with a dispute in the valet lot of the Aria Hotel, about a block
away, Sheriff Douglas Gillespie said. Investigators haven't confirmed
the cause of the altercation, but he said it spilled onto the street as
someone in a black Range Rover Sport fired several shots at the Maserati
as it headed north on Las Vegas Boulevard.
When the driver was hit,
the Maserati continued into the intersection of the boulevard and
Flamingo Road and collided with a taxi, which caught fire. The sports
car's driver, the cab driver and a passenger in the taxi all died; a
passenger in the Maserati and three other people in the resulting pileup
were hurt, Gillespie said.
The Maserati's passenger
and other witnesses are helping detectives piece together what happened,
he said. And the "top priority" for police is to find the Range Rover,
which sped away from the intersection, and those inside it when the
shooting happened.
"This act is totally
unacceptable, and we are going to make a very clear message to these
individuals in regards to that," Gillespie said.
Police in neighboring
states have been asked to look for the sport-utility vehicle, and
Gillespie warned the occupants should be considered armed and dangerous.
"Clearly, the suspects have no regard for the lives and safety of others," he said.
The Range Rover had an out-of-state dealer plate, tinted windows and large, black rims, Las Vegas Police Sgt. John Sheahan said.
The block around the crash remained closed off into Thursday afternoon. John Lamb, who was inside Caesars Palace, told CNN affiliate KLAS he heard the commotion and saw the taxi on fire from a window.
"There was a loud bang,
and I hear two other booms. I looked out my window at Caesars Palace ...
and could see the fireball," he told KLAS.
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